Xemnas' Boarding School for Misbehaved Youths
by Kagaminelover657
Summary: A food fight sends Sora and Vanitas Kingdom to a strict boarding school to correct their behaviour. Here, Sora begins to have strange dreams concerning an old Legend on the grounds the school is placed upon, along with other worlds that were once connected to it. Can Sora and his new friends prepare for what's to come? And will Sora embrace his true destiny?
1. Chapter 1: Gone too far

**I don't know how this story idea came to me, but it just did. This first chapter may not seem very exciting, since really it's just like an introduction chapter, but it will get better as the story progresses. This is my first time writing a story which involves a school life in Kingdom Hearts, and I didn't really know how to go about it, so if it seems a bit rushed and weird in places then I apologise. But the routine of the school day is similar to how my school is run so if it confuses you a bit then again I apologise, since it is different for most people in different countries and schools. But I honestly hope you enjoy it. Here is chapter 1.**

* * *

Chapter 1: Gone too far

"Vani, come on! I'm going to be late for school!"

"Why can't you just walk to school like normal people, you ungrateful little brat?!"

"Because a certain idiot brother of mine decided it would be funny to hide my alarm clock!"

"It's your fault for being a lazy bum and oversleeping!"

I growled angrily and turned away from the stairs, folding my arms stubbornly. This kind of thing was very normal in my house. Me and my twin Vanitas live here. We're the only two that live in this house, so we are always arguing in the morning and at night because of his stupid little antics.

You see, just this morning he thought it would be funny to hide my alarm clock so I'd have to go and search for it. Little did he realise that by doing so, I woke up late because I'm a heavy sleeper. As payback, I've made him drive me to school so I'm not late. Let's see how he likes that!

I stared at myself intently in the mirror which was hung in the hallway, seeing my own bright blue eyes staring back at me. I ruffled my spikey brown hair a little to try to neaten it. I straightened out my light blue tie as well along with my plain white shirt and light blue and white checked trousers. Angry footsteps came trudging down the stairs as I looked into the yellow eyes of my twin. I smirked as I watched him try to quickly neaten his black spikey hair with a small brown comb, failing miserably. He didn't bother with his tie, which was pulled halfway down his chest.

Vanitas and I were complete opposites, and our looks only proved this further. I was the well behaved twin, whereas Vani was the trouble-maker. He'd even gone and gained the nickname "Sora's Evil Twin", which he despised very much. Yet despite him being the bad influence, I somehow ended up getting dragged into his messes! It wasn't fair. How he managed it I never know, but he always ruins things for me by doing so… Like now. But luckily, I still have half an hour to get to school, and the car will cut the journey by about fifteen minutes, so I should be alright.

Without him saying a word, Vanitas strode past me and grabbed his car keys off the coat rack. I followed behind silently out to the car after grabbing my backpack, making sure the door was locked first. He didn't even wait for me to put on my seatbelt before reversing off the drive once I had gotten into the car. He quickly drove away from the house and joined this morning's traffic.

I glanced towards the beach as we drove by, seeing how quiet it was this early in the morning. I grinned happily because it reminded me of what day it was today. Today was the day that we broke up from school for the summer holidays! Despite the fact that we lived on an island and that it was mostly sunny, the temperature never matched. Sometimes it would be warm, sometimes cool, and sometimes we'd have storms, and those are never pleasant…

But yes, it is summer for us here at last! It is the one time of year that I always look forward to since it means no school, no annoying teachers, no homework, and tons of free time to do whatever we wanted! I have my whole summer planned with my friends on what we're going to do on what days. It's jam packed. Seriously, I feel like jumping up and down in my seat because I'm that excited. And I know that this is the one thing Vanitas can't spoil for me!

* * *

After finally zigzagging his way through most of the traffic, Vanitas pulled up towards the dirt track which is a short cut I use a lot to get to school. I frowned at him in confusion.

"Vani, why did you pull up here? I asked for you to take me to school!"

Vanitas smirked at me.

"No you didn't. You said, and I quote: Since you hide my alarm clock and will make me late, will you at least drive me there? You never specified where I should take you…"

I pouted. Damn it! He always reads between the lines! Vanitas' smirk widened.

"Now go on little bro, you're gonna be late, right? You have exactly twenty minutes to get to school"

I rolled my eyes and quickly got out the car. I halted then.

"Wait, aren't you coming? It is the last day of school for the summer after all"

Vani shrugged.

"Nah, I'll probably come in later. Got stuff to do. See ya!"

I closed the car door and started running as fast as I could down the dirt track, with my backpack loosely on my shoulder. I dread to think of what havoc he is planning to cause before going into school… I hate it when Vanitas reads between the words, it's annoying! Well, as he said, I have twenty minutes. I should hopefully make it there about five minutes before the bell if I'm fast enough.

After running for quite some time, despite my now tired and aching legs, I felt someone hug me around the waist from behind, causing me to skid to a halt suddenly. I almost tumbled over in the process.

"Hello you lazy bum, did Vanitas hide your alarm clock again?"

I chuckled as I turned around to see a familiar auburn haired girl standing behind me with her bag slung over her shoulder. She wore a similar uniform to me, but with navy blue socks and a light blue and white checked skirt. I raised an eyebrow playfully.

"Oh, so if I'm lazy then why are you walking out here at this time Kairi? Aren't you supposed to be at school by now?"

She rolled her eyes, punching me in the arm playfully.

"Hey, at least I didn't sleep in past the time I was supposed to Sora!"

I laughed happily as the two of us started walking up the dirt track side by side. Kairi is one of the friends who I will be spending my whole summer with. We have been friends since she first came to the island at the age of 6. Before then I was mainly really close friends with Riku and Ventus, who I will also be spending my whole summer with. Kairi is the type of girl who is always happy, and can cheer anyone up, no matter what mood they're in.

"So are you looking forward to our summer break?" Kairi asked, smiling at me.

I gave her my trademark grin, putting my hands behind my head as we walked. It was clearly obvious that I couldn't contain my excitement.

"Of course I am! This is something I have been waiting the whole school year for!"

Kairi giggled a little at my reply.

"It's what we've all been waiting for the whole school year, and the best part is that this year we won't be getting any summer projects"

"I know! We actually get some freedom this time! The projects they gave us to do were too time consuming, and it destroyed most of our free time"

"Yeah, but you have to admit, there were some funny times we had with the projects"

I nodded stiffly.

"Remember the time that Riku decided to get a picture of that starfish we were supposed to be researching and Ven shoved him into the water from behind?"

Kairi laughed.

"Poor Ven never recovered from that wedgie that Riku gave him afterwards… And remember the time when you tried to open your juice carton while we were writing that report, and it went all over the work?"

My cheeks went slightly red as I looked away, embarrassed.

"Oh yeah… I was made to re-write that all over again by you because you'd written it really neatly…"

Kairi sighed, smirking a little.

"Well it was the first time I actually put some effort into that work!"

"The first time? Since when have you put any effort into anything?"

Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"Sora Kingdom, are you being clever with me?"

I stopped in my tracks, smirking a little.

"Maybe…"

Kairi quickly glanced up the dirt track and then back towards me, folding her arms. She had a playful smile on her face.

"Alright then, since you want to be like that, let's have a little race. Who can get to school the quickest in the next fifteen minutes?"

I turned away from her, preparing to run.

"I accept your challenge. But we all know that I'm going to get there before you!"

Kairi also got ready to run, laughing.

"Sora, you can't even beat Riku at running! What makes you think you can beat me?"

Oh, so she's playing that card, is she? I smirked.

"I say we make it interesting! Whoever comes last has to… Be thrown into the sea in their school uniform when we go to the beach later!"

Kairi turned to face the dirt track, still smiling.

"It's a deal! You ready?"

I nodded, turning to face the dirt track also.

"Three. Two. One. GO!"

Immediately the two of us shot off at the same time, bolting down the dirt track. I managed to get ahead of Kairi a little bit to start off with. I tried to make sure I was focused on what was ahead than behind me. It is a known fact that if you look backwards while running, it will slow you down. Kairi does that a lot, so I have a good chance of beating her.

That was when I heard my bag unzip behind me. I glanced back to find Kairi running right behind me, laughing as one of my books landed on the floor. I frowned as Kairi ran on ahead. But I managed to grab hold of her school bag handle as she dashed past, yanking it from her shoulder. I quickly grabbed my book and threw it into my bag, zipping it quickly back up again. Kairi halted suddenly as I placed her bag down on the ground gently and continued running.

"Sora, stop cheating!"

I laughed, looking back at her as I ran.

"You played dirty first, so I'm only doing the same!"

Despite the fact my legs were hurting, I continued to run regardless, not once looking back to check on Kairi's progress.

* * *

I finally reached the school gates of Destiny High. I rested a hand on the gates, panting and laughing at the same time because I knew I'd won. After waiting for a few more seconds, I glanced up to see Kairi slowly walking towards the gates. She was laughing herself, but soon pouted.

"That was not fair! I want a rematch!"

"A rematch so you can cheat again?"

Kairi punched me playfully in the arm once again.

"I might be tired out from that race, but I've definitely got enough energy to throttle you!"

I smirked.

"You're just upset because Riku, Ven and I get to throw you in the sea later!"

Just then we heard the bell ring. Kairi and I didn't need to say anything, as the two of us straight away raced each other into the school and towards our form room. Kairi beat me this time since I was tired out from our previous race, but luckily we managed to get to form before our teacher showed up. Kairi smirked at me as I halted in the doorway, breathing heavily and hunched over slightly.

"Looks like I come out victorious this time!"

I laughed.

"But that isn't going to stop you from being thrown in the sea!"

Kairi pouted.

"Stop reminding me!"

That was when I felt something get stuck in my hair. I felt around the back of my head with one hand and pulled out of it a paper plane. I frowned at it in confusion.

"Who threw this?"

"Hey Sora, Kairi, glad to see you got my present!"

Kairi and I glanced in the direction the voice had come from to find a silver straight haired boy waving at us while leaning back in his chair casually, with his feet resting on the desk right at the back of the room. A familiar looking boy with spikey blonde hair sat on the desk beside him, grinning at us as we approached. Both of them had bright blue eyes like me, and wore a similar uniform to me. I raised an eyebrow at the silver haired boy.

"You threw this Riku?"

I held up the paper plane for him to see. Riku laughed.

"I had to get your attention somehow!"

The blonde haired boy leaned back a bit on the desk.

"Riku and I thought you two were gonna skive the last day!"

Kairi raised an eyebrow at him playfully.

"Oh come on Ven, you both should know Sora and I wouldn't skive on the day that we've been waiting the whole school year for!"

He nodded stiffly.

"True. A lot of people wouldn't want to miss this day anyway! And if they do, it's their loss"

Riku looked me and Kairi up and down.

"You two look shattered. What have you been doing?"

"We had a race to see who could get to the school first, which I won!"

Kairi rolled her eyes.

"Stop gloating because you actually beat someone for once!"

Kairi laughed as I gave her a look that said: Did you have to go there? Riku chuckled.

"Well that explains why Sora's hair is bushy enough to actually get my paper plane stuck in it!"

I shook my head at his joke.

"But that's not all. Kairi and I made a bet, and-"

Kairi quickly put her hand over my mouth to prevent me from saying anymore.

"Sora, don't you dare!"

Ventus gave a side glance to Riku, and they both started smirking.

"Are you embarrassed that you lost Kai?" Riku taunted.

Kairi shot him a death glare. I quickly removed her hand from my mouth while she was distracted.

"We get to throw her in the sea while she's still in her uniform!"

Immediately after I said that, Kairi started battering me with her school bag. Ven and Riku could only respond to her reaction with laughter. After getting a good beating to my shoulder, I quickly dashed behind Riku for protection. I held onto my shoulder tightly with one hand.

"Wow that hurt! Do you carry rocks around in that bag of yours or something?!"

Kairi folded her arms stubbornly and huffed, annoyed.

"Why do I hang around with a bunch of idiots?"

Riku pretended to act hurt by her remark.

"For you Kairi, that is actually quite hurtful!"

Ventus chuckled.

"You love us really Kai!"

In response, Kairi hurled her Maths book towards him. He quickly ducked just in time as it smacked harshly into the wall behind him. Riku and I soon burst out into hearty laughter, with Kairi and Ven joining in soon after. This is why they are my friends, because we never stay mad at each other for anything!

Eventually Ventus sighed heavily, and we all halted with our laughing.

"So, you guys still going to go to the beach later once school ends?" Ven asked curiously.

"Ven, we've had that planned for months! Of course we still are!" Riku replied happily.

"The teachers said they are going to give us our old school stuff to take away with us. What do you say we make a bonfire out of the stuff we don't need?"

I smirked.

"That is a good idea! It'll give me a chance to burn some of my old detention letters, plus Vani's as well!"

Kairi sighed.

"It's hard to believe you know"

"Believe what?"

"It's hard to believe that when we come back after summer break we will be the second oldest students in this school, not counting sixth form"

"I know. Time has flown by, hasn't it?" Ven commented.

"It feels like only yesterday that the four of us just started Secondary School" Riku shrugged.

Our form tutor arrived in moments after that, and everyone quickly rushed to their seats. We spent the rest of that time listening to our form tutor go on for twenty minutes about how much we should be careful, when we had already had this speech a thousand times every year. It only occurred every time we broke up for a half term though. I looked around at my friends the entire time. Kairi was leaning back in her chair, pretending she was listening. Riku was making more paper planes, probably to use in our first lesson, and Ven was resting his head on the desk, looking close to falling asleep.

Riku was the type of guy you could always count on to be there for you when you needed him. He liked sports, and was always trying to keep himself healthy and fit. He was a bit of a trouble-maker himself sometimes with those paper planes, always getting into trouble for throwing them around the room. Ven on the other hand was the quietest of the group. He rarely said much to strangers and was a bit socially awkward. But once you get to know him, he's a pretty nice guy who has very good views and opinions. Ven is the only one out of the four of us that has never gotten into trouble at all in school. I found that quite hard to believe, but he has managed it.

* * *

When the bell finally rang for our Period one lesson, we all quickly dashed out the classroom. We were finally glad to be out of there! Sadly our first lesson was Maths, and I had that lesson with Riku and Ven. Kairi unfortunately was on her own in a different class, since she was slightly smarter at Maths than us three put together. And as expected we were made to do Algebra. Our Maths teacher is never fun, but that can't be helped. The only funny thing about the lesson was that Riku was continually firing paper planes at him, and one got stuck on the back of his head, which he didn't seem to notice until the end of the lesson when Riku left a little message for him on the chalk board.

Our day then started to speed up a bit when it came to our Period 2 and 3 lessons. Kairi finally joined back with us in English and Business to do the fun quiz and then just chat with us normally. It felt really good to actually not be doing any work for once and getting stressed over stuff.

But when it came to Lunch, things took an unexpected turn. Or at least that is what I was thinking by the time I saw Vanitas in the Canteen. Today had been absolutely perfect for me. The fact that we'd slacked most of the day and had done nothing was really great! However, when I saw my twin terrorising the younger year groups in the Canteen, I knew he was up to something, and it was going to involve me.

As soon as Kairi spotted him, she rolled her eyes in annoyance at his immaturity.

"How are you two even related?"

I shrugged, laughing a little at her question.

"In all honesty Kai, I have no clue whatsoever!"

Riku sighed heavily, folding his arms.

"Well, I'm not gonna let your brother's stupid antics ruin my last day. I'm gonna go get some lunch"

I watched Riku walk quickly towards the lunch line, with Kairi dashing after him. Ven and I sat down at a nearby table and continued to watch Vani steal some kid's sandwich in an attempt to make him cry.

"I'm surprised he even decided to come in on the last day, considering Vanitas hates school" Ventus commented casually. "It's quite out of character for him"

"Well, if he does come into school it's usually to cause trouble for people!"

Ven nodded.

"I know. The amount of trouble he causes is insane sometimes"

My gaze soon crossed with my twin's as he gave me his trademark smirk. I shook my head.

"And judging by that look he's just given me, he's about to pull me into one of his little antics. I think we should leave before I get into trouble"

Ven nodded, quickly standing up along with me. However just as we were about to step outside the Canteen, Ventus and I were both bombarded with food from behind. All the students present gasped in horror as the room went silent and they all swirled around to face us. I slowly turned around to see my twin laughing his head off at the back of the Canteen. He did not just do what I think he did, right?

I smirked then, slowly bending down to pick up the half eaten sandwich that he had hurled at me on the floor at my feet.

"Sora, you're not going to do what I think you're going to do, right?" Ven asked, nervously.

I slowly stood back up straight again.

"Sora, you'll get into trouble if you do! Don't!" Ven begged.

My brother and I were very competitive when it came to these things, and whenever he set a challenge for me, I never backed down. Even though I was going to get into trouble, I wanted to get him back. I took a deep breath in and pulled my arm back.

"FOOD FIGHT!"

I hurled the sandwich straight at Vanitas, managing to smack him right in the face. He raised an eyebrow playfully at me as everyone grabbed for the nearest ammo they could get. The Canteen then became a war zone. Food of all sorts was being thrown from every angle at every person in the room. The kitchen staff quickly escaped out the room, dodging the flying food as best as possible. Ven and I quickly ducked under the table and laughed at the people getting hit and covered in who knows what.

Kairi and Riku quickly ducked under our table also. They had already been hit I could see. Kairi had spaghetti on her shoulder, with a splatter of ketchup on the side of her school shirt. Riku had porridge all over the top of his head, with some of it slowly trailing its way down his face.

"Sora, why did you go and do that?!" Kairi cried, slightly annoyed.

I shrugged.

"It is the last day Kairi! They can't punish you now, can they?"

Riku shook his head.

"Always reading between the lines like your twin, eh Sora?"

Ven laughed.

"And the best part is that no teacher was here to see who started the food fight, so Sora and Vanitas are off the hook! The kitchen staff are too scared to say who it is anyway in case we hit them with food the next time!"

I suddenly was smacked in the back of the head with something wet and soggy. Kairi tried to hold back a laugh as Riku scraped some of it off and stared at it in his palm.

"Vanitas just hit you in the back of the head with red jelly"

I quickly rolled out from under the table and glanced around for Vanitas. He stood on a nearby table, waving at me patronisingly. He was getting hit by other people, but he didn't care. He was only focused on me. I smirked at him and picked up a random bag of grapes that someone had dropped. I started pursuing him around the Canteen, randomly throwing grapes at him while laughing the entire time. Ok, so maybe this isn't so bad after all! He's just brightened up the last day for me instead of ruining it for a change! That's a first! I don't see how today could go downhill at all!

As soon as I said that in my head, a loud and familiar whistle echoed around the Canteen. Everyone halted suddenly in their tracks, frozen with fear. We all knew the sound of that whistle, and who had blown it. All scared eyes turned to face the Canteen doors to find Headmaster Ansem staring at us with angry yellow eyes. His white hair was blown back a bit I noticed. He stood there calmly, eyeing every single one of us.

Everyone here feared Headmaster Ansem, well everyone except Vani anyway... There was just something about his aura that left an entire room of students quaking in fear, just like right now. Everyone stared with terrified eyes as the Headmaster's eyes scanned around the room. His gaze crossed with mine, his glowing eyes narrowing and staring into my very soul. He did the same to Vanitas, who was a table in front of me; however he didn't react. After another moment of silence, his voice shook the quiet room violently as he spoke.

"Sora and Vanitas Kingdom, in my office. Now"

I swallowed hard as I quietly followed Vanitas out of the Canteen. I could feel the students' stares boring into my back as we made our way to the other end. I glanced back towards Ven, Riku and Kairi as they gave me an encouraging smile; however I could see fear was in their eyes. They had come out from under the table. Vanitas and I silently followed the Headmaster down the corridor away from the Canteen.

I had gotten into trouble before at school for incidents that Vanitas had dragged me into, but only with certain teachers. It was never serious until the Headmaster involved himself, meaning that I knew something bad was going to happen. It means I misjudged my theory after all. I was going to get in trouble on the last day of school, but in more trouble than I actually thought! But how did he know it was us? Did one of the kitchen staff rat us out?

* * *

The Headmaster slowly opened the door to his small office and indicated towards the two chairs in front of his desk. Vanitas went first and just literally fell into the chair, while I slowly sat down, sitting up straight and placing my hands on my lap together nervously. I heard the door gently shut behind us as he slowly strolled over to his chair on the other side of the desk with his hands behind his back. He calmly sat down and rested his hands together on the desk, staring at the two of us with a look of disapproval. The silence was more terrifying for me than what he was going to talk to us about!

"I have heard about you two causing havoc around school for quite some time, but never on a scale as big as this"

I looked down into my lap ashamed, while Vani rolled his eyes. The Headmaster leaned back in his chair.

"I was on my way to speak to you boys anyway when I came across the mess you were creating in the Canteen, and it is clear that you showed me that the decision I have made was a good one"

Vanitas and I exchanged confused glances as Headmaster Ansem sighed heavily.

"Your school reports show that you both are quite mischievous individuals. But despite the fact that everything you two have done hasn't harmed anyone and has been outside of lesson time, you still are being disruptive to other students and destroying school property. Therefore, unfortunately, we are transferring you to a school suited to teach you both manners"

My eyes widened in horror and I froze in the chair. T-Transferred? No! No! No! Why? Our behaviour isn't that bad, surely! I know Vanitas got me into some extreme stuff but… Vanitas stood up angrily.

"Our behaviour is surely not that bad that we have to be sent somewhere else!"

"I'm afraid, Mr Kingdom that it is. It's repetitive. The problems you cause get worse and worse every time. You two shouldn't be worrying. This school will still teach you the required Education you need, but in a stricter manner. It is a boarding school, so you will be living there as they teach you"

The Headmaster pulled out a drawer on the other side of his desk. He took out two plastic wallets filled with leaflets and booklets, and placed them carefully on the desk in front of us.

"Here is a starter pack which gives you information about the school and what its requirements are. We will sort out all the paperwork for your transfer. They will report back to us daily, and if there is a change in your behaviour then you both may come back here. But for now, you need to focus on preparing any supplies that you may need before going to this school. Everything you need to know is in those packets"

Vani stormed out the office angrily without another word, not bothering to hear any more on the subject. He was just as upset about this as I was it seems... I slowly stood up and picked up the two starter packs on the desk.

"Thank you Headmaster"

He nodded stiffly in acknowledgement.

"Have a nice summer Mr Kingdom"

I quietly walked out the office and gently shut the door behind me. I felt like I was going to burst into tears. I didn't want to move schools! I was happy here! If I go I won't be with my friends anymore! I'll be away from them for a whole year!

I finally heard the bell ring for the end of school, snapping me out of my train of thought. We usually have four periods of lessons, but we always end school at lunch on the very last day. I looked around for Vanitas to find him gone. He must have left already. I quickly stuffed the starter packs into my backpack and dashed out of the school as fast as I could, not bothering to wait for Kairi, Riku or Ven. I was too upset right now to speak to any of them. And I was definitely too upset to speak to Vani too. It's his fault I'm in this mess...

* * *

**As I said previously, this is just an introduction chapter. Things will get better later on, I assure you. But I hope you enjoyed it. Please give your thoughts on this story so I know whether I should continue it or not. And I haven't abandoned any of my other KH stories. I will update them soon when I can. Thanks for reading! :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Looks can be deceiving

**This is where things start to get interesting. Hope you enjoy the next chapter. And thanks to those who have favourited and followed this story! :)**

* * *

Chapter 2: Looks can be deceiving

"Sora, open the door! Sora!"

I curled up further under my bed covers, ignoring my twin on the other side of the bedroom door. Vanitas got home before I did, and had started ranting on about how the Headmaster was an idiot for doing this and that he didn't need to go to this school. I had a go at him then, saying that he only cared about himself and not about how it had impacted me. And for the first time ever, Vanitas actually listened to me instead of arguing back. I then stormed up to my room, crying my eyes out. I blocked the door with an old toy box of mine that I still had so he couldn't get in.

I was supposed to be happy right now. I was supposed to be jumping for joy that I had finally broken up for the summer. But I wasn't, and yet it had happened again. Vanitas had actually gone and ruined my summer for me already, and it hadn't even started yet! I wasn't going to see my friends at school anymore. I had to start all over again at another school for my "behaviour". And it was all thanks to my brother's antics!

I heard my toy box finally topple over onto the floor. I peeked out from under the bed covers slightly to find Vanitas standing in the doorway. I had stopped crying ages ago. Vanitas leaned against the door frame, combing back some of his hair with his hand.

"You're right Sora. I screwed up, ok? I got us both into this mess, and... I'm sorry. If I could turn back the clock then I would try and prevent it, but I guess I can't. I should have taken into consideration about how it would have affected you, since I know how much you care about those friends of yours"

I stayed hidden under the covers, not bothering to come out yet. I wanted to see if he would try anything else. Vanitas sighed heavily and walked over to my bed, sitting on the end.

"I got carried away, ok? It was the last day and I honestly thought you and I would have been fine and gotten away with it, because you know how competitive we are! That can't be helped! And that damn school need to realise that! We are who we are. They are not going to change us. I'm sure you'll be out of that school in the first week there! You're better behaved than me, so I don't see why you're worrying so much!"

I chuckled a little and finally climbed out from under the covers, sitting up on the bed.

"It's too late for apologies Vani, but thanks for trying to cheer me up anyway..."

Vanitas nodded.

"And by the way, your crazy friend with the auburn hair is trying to kick the front door down because apparently you haven't been answering her texts or something like that..."

"SORA KINGDOM! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Vani and I both cringed as a loud thud sounded from downstairs. Yep, that's Kai alright! And I was too upset to reply to her texts when I came out of school so… Yeah…

"I'll leave you guys to it..."

He quickly dashed for his own room. I don't blame him. Kairi scares everyone when she's mad! I heard a lot of footsteps thudding up the stairs as Kairi appeared in the doorway angrily with Ven and Riku close behind. Ven shook his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe you just barged into someone's house without permission Kai!"

Riku chuckled and glanced up at me with a small smile.

"You might want to tell your brother that you two need a new door..."

Kairi folded her arms and frowned at me.

"What were you thinking by running off out the school without telling us?! We've been worried sick about you!"

I looked down towards the floor ashamed, scratching the back of my head.

"Sorry, it's just..."

Riku slowly walked into the room and sat beside me on the bed.

"Did something bad happen with the Headmaster?"

I nodded slowly and glanced around at my three friends in dismay. I really didn't want to tell them, but they deserved to know. I waited a few seconds before sighing heavily.

"He's transferring Vanitas and I to a boarding school at the start of the new term, due to our behaviour..."

All three of them gasped and stood or sat there in horror.

"No way! You aren't bad behaved Sora! It's Vanitas who causes the trouble!" Ven retaliated.

"That's not what the Headmaster said..."

Kairi sighed.

"So that means we only get to spend our last time with you during the summer, right?"

I nodded stiffly.

"Yeah..."

The room went silent then. It was a lot to take in for not just me, but also my friends too. As soon as this summer was over, I would be starting all over again. The very thought was making me feel sick with worry and fear. Riku placed a comforting hand on my back.

"I'm sure it will be fine Sora. You can still keep in contact with us, right?"

"I think so, yeah"

"And besides, when the holidays come around you can travel back here to visit, right?"

I nodded.

"Yeah"

"Then you don't need to worry! You can still see us, and it's just for one school year, right?"

"Yeah, maybe less if he can see any progress in my behaviour"

"There you go. You'll be back home with us in no time!"

I smiled a little at Riku's encouragement. He always tries to find positive things out of these kinds of situations.

"By the way, what is this school like?" Kairi asked curiously.

I held up the starter pack for her to take.

"I don't know. I haven't read it yet, but you can look if you want"

Kairi carefully took it from me and pulled out the main booklet. She and Ven had a little flick through it. After a brief look over it, Kairi frowned.

"I don't like this..."

"What do you mean?" Riku asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"There are no pictures of the school itself. Just loads of text, pictures of school uniform and weird looking buildings that look nothing like a school!"

I picked up the other starter pack in my bag and looked over it with Riku. I shook my head.

"Erm Kairi, did you actually read the writing?"

Kairi scoffed.

"There's too much of it! It would take effort!"

Riku, Ven and I sighed heavily.

"Kairi, those "weird buildings" are the school" Ven answered, bluntly.

"Oh..."

I tried to hold back a laugh. And people say I'm dense sometimes! I watched Riku curiously look over the photos again. Something seems to have caught his attention…

"Kairi does make a good point though. I find it strange how this so called boarding school doesn't even look like a boarding school! And not only that, but it's all separated quite far away from each other"

"What do you mean by that?" Ven questioned confused, sitting on the floor beside Riku's feet.

Riku rested the main booklet on his lap and pointed towards a picture of what looked to be a large brownish coloured castle out in the middle of nowhere. Kairi stood in front of Riku and leaned over a little to look at the photo.

"Wow. That looks more like something Headmaster Ansem would use for an isolation punishment than a boarding school"

"Well according to the booklet, that's where the dorms are. And just the dorms"

Our eyes widened.

"You're kidding!" I cried.

Riku shook his head, surprised himself.

"Nope, that is where you're supposed to be sleeping according to this booklet"

Ventus laughed.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you got attacked during the night by some sort of demon like creature!"

I threw the rest of the starter pack at him annoyed, managing to hit him straight on the head.

"Don't say things like that Ven!"

Kairi suddenly gasped and placed a finger on what looked to be another castle, but it was a big black one that was surrounded by neon lights and small dark buildings. She made Ven jump in fright.

"Kairi, I thought there was something seriously wrong then!"

"Sorry. Apparently that is the main school building. As in where most of the lessons take place"

Riku frowned.

"Are you serious? That looks like something out of a horror movie"

"More like a ghost town!" I added, shuddering. "Ok, this school is really freaking me out! And the dorms don't even look like they are anywhere near there!"

"I wouldn't worry Sora" Kairi replied, ruffling my hair a little. "I'm pretty sure that is just there to scare you"

"Yeah, Kai could be right. It's just to scare students into behaving!" Ven agreed. "I'm sure you'll be fine"

"Yeah, it's probably a lot less scary on the inside, and who knows, it may turn out to be fun!"

I laughed bitterly.

"I highly doubt that. The Headmaster said it was very strict, so I'm basically screwed!"

The four of us sat in silence after that. They were running out of things to cheer me up with. Riku then frowned. Ven raised an eyebrow.

"What's up Riku?"

"I just thought… Wasn't there a bet that a certain someone lost…?"

I smirked then. I know what he's trying to do. He's trying to get my mind off things. Ven chuckled. Kairi pouted.

"Darn! I thought you'd forgotten about that!"

"We'll make it fair Kai. We'll give you ten seconds to run!" Riku laughed.

Kairi placed her hands on her hips disapprovingly.

"Ten?! Come on, surely I should get-"

"One" Ven interrupted, starting to count. "Two…"

Kairi quickly grabbed her bag and dashed out the room. Riku, Ven and I stood up as Ven kept counting, laughing while doing so. As soon as we heard her get to the bottom of the stairs, we began pursuing her.

* * *

We caught up with her in the end, and she ended up getting drenched! But she got us back by dragging us into the sea one by one while we were still in our school uniform. Of course we didn't care! It was the perfect end to school for that year…

The rest of my summer holiday however was mostly spent with Vanitas trying to find our school supplies and whatever else. It turned out we had to travel by train to get there, but it had to be from Twilight Town. That wasn't that far from here; however the train left the day before we're supposed to go back to school. So I had to leave my friends a day earlier than expected.

Honestly, there was so much searching we had to do for the uniforms. Everything we had to wear was black, with a blazer instead of just a shirt like at our old school. The only things that weren't black were the shirts, which were white, the trousers and the tie, which were grey. It made me feel so depressed. The colours were depressing anyway, close to that of prison clothes. But the days I spent with Kairi, Riku and Ven always put my mind straight off it. The school had already sent our train tickets and directions to Twilight Town if needed, all ready for the day we had to leave.

The summer went by too quickly, and before I knew it, I was in my room packing my bags. Kairi, Ven and Riku were downstairs, waiting to say goodbye to me. Vani stood in the doorway patiently, waiting for me to finish packing my uniform and any spare clothes and pyjamas that I can wear out of lesson hours. I turned back to look at him sadly.

"You're not going then?"

Vani rolled his eyes.

"Sora, do you really think I'm letting this idiot who has gained the title of "Headmaster" ship me off to another school? I'm never going to change in behaviour, whereas I know you will. I'll take you so you can show that damn idiot that he made the biggest mistake in sending my little bro there!"

I chuckled a little as he said all of that to me with a smile on his face. It was very rare we supported each other, but in this case, Vani was giving me support.

"You make a very good point. I know for a fact that not even that school could change your behaviour"

He smirked at me as I continued to put away my clothes into my suitcase. I sighed then.

"But by doing so, I'm left on my own. What if I'm the only newbie there? What if I get picked on?"

Vani sighed heavily.

"Stop being such a worry wart! You need to look at the positive side of things instead of the negative all the time!"

After I finished packing my suitcase and zipping up my backpack with my school stuff in it, I slowly followed Vanitas out the room.

"You ready bro?" Vanitas asked casually as we walked.

I shook my head.

"I'm the same as when I found out I had to go to this school. My feelings have never changed since then"

He gently patted my shoulder, stopping me behind the wall before the stairs.

"You will be fine Sora. I assure you. Don't worry. I'll leave you to say your goodbyes. I'll be in the car"

I watched as Vanitas slowly walked away down the stairs. I heard Ven ask if I was coming, and Vani replied with a simple grunt. I smirked. He's only nice around me, never in front of others!

I took a deep breath and slowly walked around the corner, going down the stairs. I wasn't ready for this at all. No matter how many times I had tried to prepare myself, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to them. I tried not to make eye contact as Kairi legged it to the bottom of the stairs and pulled me into a suffocating hug.

"Write to us every day if you can. I want to make sure you're ok. And when you come back for the holidays, I will pound you if you don't have a good excuse for not doing so"

I could hear the sadness in her voice, despite her efforts to hide it. I hugged her tightly with my spare hand, chuckling a little.

"I promise I will Kai. I promise I'll try"

She slowly pulled away, nodding stiffly.

"That's all I needed to hear"

She backed away a little as Ven came over, pulling me into a little hug also.

"If you get lonely Sora, we can try and get ourselves sent there too to be with you if you prefer! Just say the word!"

I sighed heavily, gently patting Ven's back.

"There's no need to Ven. And besides, I can see that plan backfiring"

Ven chuckled nervously as he pulled away, scratching the back of his head.

"True…"

Finally Riku pulled me into a little hug as well. I hugged back gently.

"Just try to stay out of trouble, ok Sora?"

He chuckled a little as he pulled away, ruffling up my hair a little. I laughed.

"Of course I will Riku! You know I will!"

Everyone was silent then, until Ven pretended to start crying, pretending to sniffle also.

"Group hug!"

Ven and Riku pulled me and Kairi into a group hug. We stayed like that for quite a while, laughing a little at Ven's reaction. In all honesty, I didn't care if my time was wasted. My friends will always come first, no matter what.

I continued to hug them all tightly and then slowly pulled away as I heard the sound of the car horn outside. I sighed. Vanitas was pretending to be impatient.

"Well, I guess I'd better get going then…"

Riku gently placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You'll be alright Sora. We believe in you"

Kairi and Ven smiled at that statement. I did too. I nodded stiffly.

"Thanks Riku"

Swallowing the lump starting to form in my throat, I slowly turned around and walked outside with the others following slowly behind. I placed my things in the front seat of the car in the foot well as I slowly sat down inside, closing the door behind me. I glanced at Vanitas to see him give me a small nod of encouragement. He slowly started to pull off the drive.

"Sora, wait!"

I looked to my car window to see Kairi standing there. Vanitas immediately stopped the car. I quickly wound down the window as she pulled something out of her pocket. She carefully placed it in my hand, closing my fingers around it.

"Take my good luck charm with you. If ever you get homesick, use it to comfort you. It always works for me"

I smiled at her warmly.

"Thanks Kairi. I promise I'll look after it"

She smiled a little back.

"I know you will"

I wound the window back up as she dashed back to stand with Riku and Ventus on the steps of my house. They were going to keep an eye on it for Vanitas until he came back. I continued to watch my friends as Vani slowly reversed off the drive. I could see that Ven was teasing Kairi again, and she gave him a nasty punch in the shoulder. And then she hit Riku in the side for laughing at it. I chuckled as I waved to them, grinning. I continued to watch them out the back window as we drove away. They waved back, trying their best to smile, until we could no longer see each other.

I sighed heavily and felt depression wash over me then. I stared down at Kairi's lucky charm still in my hand. I held it tightly before putting it into the pocket of my jacket, making sure it was zipped and secure. I was already starting to feel quite homesick as we drove away from Destiny Islands.

(I just hope I don't have to be there for very long…)

* * *

The entire journey there, Vani was trying his best to keep me occupied with stuff he'd heard going around in the news and such, but it didn't distract me for long. Eventually, we both ended up talking about the school itself and what I was going to do there. It helped ease my mind a bit, since he had also looked through the starter pack and had been kind enough to make sure I had everything. He'd only gone and bought his school stuff in case they decided to actually bother dragging him to the school themselves, so he'd thought of everything in advance. I was worried though that I was going to be the only newbie starting this school year. And you know what it's like with the people who already know the place inside and out? They pick on you because they have the advantage. And that thought sends a nasty chill down my spine…

After about an hour of driving, we finally pulled up outside Twilight Town. I looked around curiously to find that it was quite busy despite it only just turning to afternoon. I gathered my things and slowly climbed out the car. I turned back to Vani who gave me a small nod.

"Don't worry Sora. I know you'll be fine. Just avoid trouble at all costs, obey the rules, and you'll be back at Destiny Islands in no time. Good luck"

I smiled.

"Thanks Vani"

"But if there is any trouble, send a letter, and I'll be there to pound them into dust!"

I chuckled.

"I know you will"

I took a deep breath in and slowly began walking into Twilight Town, glancing back briefly to see Vanitas waving at me. I was on my own from here on out, I knew that. But everyone has faith in me. I know I can do it. I won't let them down.

* * *

I started walking around the streets, passing through random crowds of people laughing and chatting happily. The noise I wasn't used to, since on Destiny Islands it was quite peaceful and quiet at times. Here it was quite loud. And there were a lot more people than I originally thought. I glanced up to find the buildings here were also very tall, much taller than the ones back home. The town was quite a view to behold…

After wandering around a bit more I found myself in what appeared to be the main square. I have no idea where the train station is. I sighed heavily and sat down by a nearby wall, looking at my watch. I couldn't find a map of this town anywhere! I still have time though. But how am I supposed to find my way there in the next ten minutes?

"Hey, are you alright?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a young girl around the same age as me with brunette hair and green eyes standing in front of me. Some of her hair stuck out to the side a bit spikey like, while two perfectly even parts of it trailed down behind her ears on either side of her head. She wore a sleeveless bright orange top with a few white flowers printed along the left side of it, light brown trousers that just passed her knees and white and yellow trainers. She was carrying a backpack on her back too, but it was a bit smaller than mine. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just having trouble trying to find the train station. I don't live around here so…"

I chuckled nervously. The girl smiled warmly, understanding my situation.

"I was just heading there myself. I need to meet my friends. I can take you there if you want"

"That would be very helpful, thank you"

I held out my hand to her as I carefully stood up, grinning.

"My name's Sora by the way. And you are?"

She gently shook my hand, smiling back politely.

"I'm Olette. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you too!"

The two of us slowly walked away from the square.

"So where are you heading off to then?-" She glanced at my suitcase and backpack. "-You look like you might be living there for quite some time"

I looked away a little embarrassed.

"Well, I'm being made to go to this boarding school, but I'd rather not say the name of it…"

"Is it "Xemnas' boarding school for misbehaved youths", by any chance?"

I stared at her wide eyed.

"How did you-?"

She giggled, and smiled sadly.

"That's where I'm supposed to be heading too unfortunately"

I was surprised.

"You don't look like the type of person to be a troublemaker"

"And neither do you, but sadly I didn't have a choice. Neither did my friends either. The town literally voted for us to go thanks to a guy named Seifer who is the gang leader here… We got framed for something that we didn't do, and are now classed as troublemakers"

She sighed.

"It's not fair…"

I kinda felt sorry for her.

"Yeah, that does sound like it sucks"

"How did you end up getting sent there then?"

I sighed.

"My twin is always pulling me into his stupid antics. He's always the troublemaker, and whenever he gets into trouble, so do I. The Headmaster at our school decided to send us both here to correct our behaviour. My twin ditched though"

Olette smiled at me sadly.

"So is this your first time going to this school?"

I nodded stiffly.

"It is for me and my friends too. I'm sure if we stick together we will be fine, right? We newbies have to look out for each other"

I smiled a little as I started feeling a bit reassured knowing I'm not on my own.

"Right, thanks"

She nodded. I glanced ahead to find a large clock tower above what appeared to be the entrance to the train station. There I saw two boys around my age sat on the steps, chatting casually. They had two suitcases in front of them, slightly bigger than mine. One of the boys was slightly taller than the other. He had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a small grey jacket with a black t-shirt with a skull and other pictures on it drawn in white; although I couldn't quite make out what they were. He had army coloured trousers that just passed his knees and matching shoes with brown buckles on them.

The smaller boy sat beside him, to the right, had black spiked up hair held up by a black headband and brown eyes also. He wore a white long sleeved t-shirt with a sleeveless vest on over the top that was coloured red, and the word "Dogstreet" written down the right side of it coloured white. There was also a black coloured drawing in the middle of it that had three bones and a robot like dog underneath it. He also had long blue trousers, with white and blue trainers.

The two of them glanced in our direction and slowly stood up as Olette and I approached. The dirty blonde haired boy grinned.

"You take your time don't you Olette? You're lucky the train doesn't arrive for another two minutes!"

She frowned.

"At least I didn't try to make ourselves look like proper troublemakers by buying train tickets to Radiant Garden, Hayner! They would have found out we tried to ditch school. They're not stupid"

The smaller boy laughed at Olette's remark. Hayner growled, but his eyes widened when he glanced at me.

"Oh, I didn't realise you'd brought someone else into this Olette!"

She indicated towards me.

"This is Sora. He's just arrived here and was looking for the train station. I was just showing him where it is!"

Olette turned to me then, sighing.

"Sora, I'd like you to meet my friends, Hayner and Pence!"

Hayner held out his hand.

"It's nice to meet you Sora!"

I nodded and grinned as I gently shook his hand.

"It's nice to meet you too!"

The other boy, Pence, smiled at me warmly.

"So where are you heading then? Hopefully it's not to the hell that we're supposed to be heading to"

"Actually I am. Olette already told me where you guys were headed"

Hayner sighed in relief.

"Thank Kingdom Hearts, we're not the only ones going there! Don't worry Sora, if you stick with me, you'll make it through the school year"

Pence shook his head, laughing.

"You're so full of yourself Hayner!"

Just then we heard a loud squeaking sound. The four of us turned our heads towards the station.

"Looks like our train's here" Olette stated sadly. "We best hurry or else we'll miss it"

"Wait, don't you guys want to look one last time at Twilight Town before we leave?" Pence asked.

Hayner rolled his eyes.

"No way. Why should we? We're in this mess because of the people here. I don't want to be reminded of that…"

The four of us quickly dashed up the steps into the train station, once Hayner and Pence had managed to grab hold of their stuff of course. The four of us arrived on the small platform to see a weird looking purple train in front of us. I had seen a train before, but the aura around this one was quite mysterious and odd. Standing near the train was someone wearing a hooded black cloak. They appeared to be quite tall, and since their hood was up, we couldn't see their face.

In front of them was a boy about the same height and age as me, with blonde spikey hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white jacket with a red collar on the inside, and a black sleeveless top that had a high collar on it. He also wore long black and white trousers with black and red shoes. From here, he appeared to be giving the cloaked figure his train ticket. Is this guy the conductor of the train or something…?

Just as he was about to get on, the blonde boy glanced back to stare at me for a moment. He glared at me icily, sending a nasty chill down my spine. I watched on surprised and confused as he walked onto the train.

"W-Who was that…?" I asked, dazedly.

"That was Roxas Strife, Twilight Town's Number 1 troublemaker" Pence explained.

"Apparently Xemnas' Boarding School for Misbehaved Youths opened up just last year, and he was sent there by Seifer" Hayner continued. "The school obviously hasn't done anything to correct his behaviour since he's being sent there again this year too!"

"I just hope we aren't stuck on a train full of people who have already been there. Otherwise it's going to be a really long and horrid journey there…" I gulped.

The four of us slowly approached the cloaked figure. He held out his hand towards me first.

"Give me your ticket to board the train"

The voice sounded male, and the tone was very cold. I swallowed quietly, carefully pulling out my ticket and handing it to him. I watched curiously as he glanced down at my ticket for a moment, before quickly pocketing it. I frowned. You're not supposed to do that with a ticket, right?

"Looks good enough. Get on the train"

I didn't like the way he was ordering me around, but obeyed without any hesitation. I don't want to get into trouble before school starts anyway!

I glanced around the train to find that it was all just two long rows of seats on either side of it, except for where the exit doors were on the left side. There were gaps there so people could get in and out obviously. There were no tables or places to put our luggage. Just seats. Weird…

My eyes once again crossed with that of Roxas', who sat alone on the other end of the train. Again, he just continued to give me a cold glare. I didn't understand. Why was he doing that? I have never met him in my life to do anything to hurt him…

Soon Pence, Olette and Hayner boarded the train. It seemed there would only be five of us here for now. The four of us sat in the middle seats on the train, with Hayner and me on one side and Olette and Pence on the other, all opposite each other. We pushed our suitcases and bags underneath our seats to ensure they were secure. Before long we heard the whistle blow loudly, and the train slowly started to move forward. I glanced back at the platform as we began to depart through the window. There's no way I can chicken out of this now…

* * *

**Please read and review this story. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)**


	3. Chapter 3: More Than I Bargained For

**Well, I was surprised at how quickly this story had gotten favourited, reviewed, and followed a good month or so ago. Thank you to all. I'm glad you like this story. After some thinking, I've finally managed to come up with Chapter 3, where things start to get even more interesting, and Sora's journey to the boarding school takes an unexpected turn... Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Chapter 3: More Than I Bargained For

I stared out the window of the train as we rode over the tracks. I had lost count of how long ago it had been since we last left the station, and already I was starting to miss Vanitas, Ven, Riku and Kairi. It was natural for me to think like this, of course. I was doing something which I never thought I'd do: Leave the people who I cared about so much behind. I was relieved to know that I wasn't going to be the only newbie at this school, which had eased my nerves a lot, but these were going to be people I barely knew. Fair enough I had gotten to know Olette, Pence and Hayner a little since I had gotten to Twilight Town and onto the train, but it just didn't feel right. It felt… odd.

I was currently kneeling on the seats so I could see out the window better. Hayner joined me on his seat, resting his head on his arms as he stared longingly out the window. Olette and Pence had been chatting amongst themselves for some of the journey. And Roxas? Well, he just sat quietly and stared out the window from his seat. Hayner sighed heavily.

"Why did they have to pick today to send us off to boarding school? This is the perfect day to go to the beach!"

"Hayner, you say that about every sunny day" Pence replied, leaning back against his seat opposite ours.

I watched Hayner turn himself around and sit properly back on the seat again. I soon joined him.

"I know, but today we _were_ planning to go to the beach! It would have been the perfect end to the summer break!"

"Which beach were you planning on going to?" I asked curiously.

I wanted to try to get involved in conversations, since it had been pretty boring on this train so far. We literally had nothing to do. Speaking of which, I wonder where that conductor guy vanished to…

"The one on Destiny Islands" Olette replied, smiling a little. "Apparently the horizon there is supposed to be really beautiful"

I nodded stiffly in agreement.

"Yeah, it is. It's very eye catching, especially for tourists!"

"Have you been there Sora?"

I grinned.

"Of course I have! I live on Destiny Islands!"

Their eyes widened at me in surprise. I noticed Roxas had been listening in on our conversation, despite him being on the other end of the train. I looked out the corner of my eye to find him watching me carefully.

"You live there?!" Pence cried. "Wow! You're so lucky Sora! I bet you get to go down to the beach every day, right?"

"Yeah, I guess I do. Although, once you get used to living near a tourist destination, it does get kinda boring. The thrill of being on that beach isn't the same as those who have seen it for the first time in their lives. It's still fun to go to though when you're bored. Plus, you make friends with interesting people who go there for a day out or holidays"

"I hope we do get to go there someday…" Hayner sighed, seeming lost in a trance.

"Maybe we could once our school year is over. You know, all four of us could go" Olette suggested. "And of course anyone else we make friends with"

"That's not a bad idea Olette!" Pence commented.

"Then we'll do it" Hayner added, smiling. "But of course, we're gonna need money first-"

I stared down at the zip up pocket on my black jacket and placed my hand on it, holding onto Kairi's good luck charm tightly through the material as they continued talking. This conversation they were having made me feel a bit homesick, even if I was included in their plans. It reminded me too much of the plans I had made with Riku, Kairi and Ventus over the summer break…

I glanced back out the window to see where we were now. All the trees and bushes that had originally passed by were gone, and in its place was a town that appeared to be quite bright and colourful.

"Hey, do you know where the train has pulled up?"

Olette, Pence and Hayner joined me at the window as the train slowly started to come to a halt in the station, and as I knelt back up on the seat again. Hayner did the same, while Pence stood in between us. Olette pulled out her starter pack from her bag first before she came over to stand by Pence, and began to quickly flick through the booklet. Once she found the right page, she pointed to the section with her finger.

"It says here that the train was going to transport students from Twilight Town and Radiant Garden. So, we're in Radiant Garden, since we obviously just left from Twilight Town"

"So, there is going to be more people coming onto this train?" Hayner questioned, huffing in annoyance. "Oh joy. I bet they are students that have already been to this boarding school"

"We should be fine as long as we stay away from them" Pence assured.

Hayner turned to face him and frowned.

"It's not that simple, Pence. Whether we stay clear of them or bother them, they will still want to mess with us either way. That's what they all do!"

"There's no need for stereotyping Hayner! Not everyone is like that" Olette scolded.

When the train finally came to a sharp halt, I saw the conductor with the black cloak stroll to the front of the train and stand in front of one of the doors. Olette stood beside my seat as we glanced towards the town beyond the station.

"This place is really busy, isn't it?" I commented. "Just like Twilight Town was…"

"It seems to be much brighter and cheerful here though. I wouldn't mind having to live here for the entire school year"

"It's a shame we aren't though, right?"

"I agree Sora!" Pence added as he returned to his seat. "The building where we have to sleep gives me the chills"

"Plus it is very plain" Olette added. "Apparently the inside of the building is all white. There are no other colours that blend in with it"

My eyes widened a little. The whole of that castle was coloured white on the inside, but brown on the outside? Wow. I never came across that when I was looking through the guide…

I saw two people walking towards the train, carrying small suitcases. One was a young boy who appeared to be a lot younger than me. He had short blue hair, with a long fringe that covered his left eye, and blue eyes. He wore a dark blue short sleeved t-shirt, with light blue jeans and plain black shoes. The other person beside him, holding his hand as they walked towards the conductor, had light blonde hair and bright green eyes. He was a man wearing a white lab coat, black trousers, black shoes and a bright purple neck tie around his neck.

He stopped in front of the train and handed the young boy the other suitcase, kneeling down in front of him. The man gently placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, appearing to be lecturing him. The young boy and man shared a small hug afterwards before the man slowly got up and moved away from the train. I watched the young boy timidly hand the conductor his ticket, before boarding the train. I glanced towards the door the boy was coming through as he entered and glanced around to find somewhere to sit. After pondering for a while, the young boy sat on the seat near me. He pulled out a small purple book from his bag, and began to read it quietly.

I glanced back out the window again to search for the man; however I noticed he was no longer there. I frowned. I thought he would have at least stayed to see the boy off… Hayner glanced at the kid for a moment, before leaning in towards me.

"I can't believe they are sending a young boy to this school too! He doesn't look like he'd cause any trouble at all!"

I nodded silently in agreement, turning back to face the window at the sound of laughing coming up ahead.

I could see three more people approaching the train. The first people to get there were two teenagers that appeared to be slightly older than us. One of them had spiked up bright blue hair with green eyes. He wore a dark blue jacket with light blue outlines on it, and a yellow crescent moon shape on the right side of his chest on the jacket. He also wore bright white trousers, and black shoes. He had a serious look on his face, and didn't appear to be amused at what the other teenager was laughing at. His friend had spikey red hair with green eyes also. He wore an orange sleeveless jacket, with a white shirt underneath, and a yellow neck scarf around his neck. He wore light brown trousers with red and white trainers.

The two quickly gave the conductor their tickets and boarded the train. The red haired teenager was still laughing as they walked through the door.

"Oh lighten up Isa! It was only a joke!"

"Do you really think I'm looking forward to seeing my older brother Lea? Because if I was, I'd be laughing"

The red haired teenager, Lea, sighed.

"You have no sense of humour! I don't like the fact that I have to see my older brother either, but at least I can joke about it to make the situation seem better!"

The two sat in the seat next to Olette and Pence, opposite the young boy, as the third person I saw timidly boarded the train. She was a young girl about the same age as us with light blonde hair that came to her shoulders, and blue eyes. She wore a plain white sleeveless dress with bright blue sandals. She carried a blue backpack that was hooked around her shoulder with what appeared to be a sketchbook underneath her right arm. I watched as she sat at the other end of the train quietly, pushing her bag gently underneath her seat.

I sat back down next to Hayner as the doors finally closed, and the conductor disappeared again. Was this it from Radiant Garden then? I thought there would be more people than this. Olette finally returned to her seat as the train finally started moving again. The spikey haired boy Lea turned to face us in his seat.

"Hey guys! I'm Lea! Got it memorized?"

Hayner frowned at him confused.

""Got it memorized?" What is that? Some kind of catchphrase of yours?"

Lea chuckled.

"You could say that. Or it could be a way of me checking to make sure you got my name remembered"

He turned to me then, gently punching me in my shoulder.

"So you got it memorized, spikey?"

I nodded quickly so that I didn't anger him. He seems to be someone who has already been to the school.

"Lea, I think you're scaring the new arrivals" Isa commented slyly.

Lea grinned at me.

"Hey, I'm not one of those types to go bullying newbies, so you're fine!"

He pointed towards Isa then.

"And this is my friend Isa by the way. So, who are you guys?"

"I'm Hayner! And these are my two friends Olette and Pence!"

Pence nodded and smiled in acknowledgement, while Olette gave a small wave of her hand.

"And I'm Sora"

Lea leaned back in his seat.

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys! So, you are new to this school, right?"

All four of us nodded.

"I feel very sorry for you. This boarding school is almost as bad as hell itself"

"Oh great" Hayner huffed.

Lea laughed at his reaction.

"Hey, don't worry about it! There are some good things! You get to go on loads of school trips for lessons with a few of the teachers there. It's mostly outside based learning than in"

"Oh. Well that doesn't sound too bad"

"Is it true that the dormitories are elsewhere instead of by the main building?" Pence questioned.

"Yes. Both places are in separate areas of the globe. That's the weirdest thing about that school"

Our eyes widened.

"They're in different areas?!" I questioned, surprised.

"Yep. The place where we're going is the dark realm, not located on any map. The school is most of these areas within the dark realm combined"

The four of us glanced at each other uneasily. Out the corner of my eye, I could see the blonde girl was listening in on our conversation. I also saw the young boy glance up from his book quickly before turning back to it again.

"Dark realm? That wasn't mentioned on the starter pack" Olette commented, surprised.

"That's the odd thing, but it's best not to question it" Isa replied calmly. "The teachers at the school don't like to talk about it for some reason"

What had Headmaster Ansem gotten me into? I glanced over towards the blonde girl once more to find she appeared to be looking a bit lonely. Unlike Roxas who had wanted no one to sit by him, she actually looked like she wanted company. As Lea continued talking to the others, I slowly got up and walked towards the other end of the train. There was a sketchbook on her lap, and she was drawing the outline of a figure with a black crayon. She appears to be a bit of an artist. She stopped drawing the minute I stopped in front of her, and glanced up at me slightly. I smiled warmly.

"Do you want to come and sit with us? You look a bit lonely over here on your own"

The girl seemed to be taking my offer into consideration. After a few moments of thinking, she nodded timidly. I watched as she carefully gathered her things and followed quietly behind me back to my seat. She appeared to be quite shy, and not much of a talker. She reminds me of Ven a little. He's a bit shy around strangers and doesn't talk much.

Hayner had moved into the spot where I had sat previously so he could ask Lea about the lessons at the school. So I took his place beside him, while the girl sat on the seat beside me. The chairs were split into sets of two, with a small gap in between. I decided I'd try to start a conversation with her.

"So, I'm Sora. And you are?"

The girl had placed her sketchbook to one side. She appeared to be coming out of her shell a little. She gave me a small smile.

"I'm Namine. It's nice to meet you Sora"

"So, you got sent to this boarding school too then? You don't look like a trouble maker"

Namine brushed a strand of hair away from her face and sighed.

"I'm not one. I was forced to take the blame for something I didn't do, and the incident was quite bad…"

I was surprised at how quietly she had said that. I'm guessing she doesn't want anyone else to overhear. And she didn't appear to be comfortable mentioning it either.

"I see. I won't press any further if you're uncomfortable talking about it"

Namine stared at me surprised. Hadn't she been expecting that reply?

"You seem to be quite kind Sora. Were you supposed to be sent here?"

I shook my head.

"No. My twin ended up dragging me into this. He's the one that always causes the trouble, and yet somehow I end up getting involved. Most of the time it's my fault I am involved, while for others it is his"

I took a deep breath and grinned.

"But, I know I shouldn't be getting upset about it. When the school see that I've made progress in my behaviour, I'll be able to go home"

Namine tilted her head slightly to the side.

"I can tell that you are missing people dear to you. And with the air of confidence you have right now, I can tell you'll be able to see them very soon"

I was surprised at her words. How did she know that? Just as I went to ask her what she meant, Hayner suddenly cried out in horror. We both glanced over at him as he went really pale.

"Are you kidding me?!"

Lea smirked and shook his head.

"Nope. We do a lot of P.E. lessons, and the teachers who run that are very strict"

Pence chuckled a little at Hayner's reaction.

"What's up Hayner? You're always pushing us to do better through strict coaching speeches, so this should be right up your street"

Hayner glared at him.

"Not funny Pence"

"And that's not all"

Everyone turned their heads in Roxas' direction as he stood up and slowly strolled forward.

"If you think the lessons are bad, wait until you see the punishments"

Lea and Isa gave each other concerned looks. Isa stood up then, folding his arms stubbornly.

"Alright Roxas, that's enough. Some things are best left unsaid"

Roxas smirked at him.

"Oh come on Isa. They are newbies after all. They deserve to know what to expect when they get there, right?"

Isa gave Roxas a nasty glare. I don't think those two get along very well… The little boy had put his book away now, and was sitting up in his seat. All eyes were on Roxas now.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Hayner challenged.

Roxas turned to him, looking a little amused.

"Well, did that starter pack mention about what would happen if you break one of the school rules?"

The people who this was aimed at remained silent. Lea finally stood up.

"Roxas, please. They don't need scaring on their first day"

Roxas frowned at him.

"I'm not talking to you"

His eyes looked around the small group of people carefully until they fell upon me. Roxas slowly walked towards me.

"What about you? Perhaps you can answer the question. Did the starter pack mention anything about punishments?"

I stood up so that I was eye level with him and folded my arms.

"No, but I don't see what that has to do with anything"

I wasn't going to take being pushed around by someone who I didn't even know. Roxas stood in front of me, glaring at me with an evil glint in his eye.

"Well, if you disobey any of the school rules, they put you in a room with grey walls and flooring, with bunk beds surrounding you, and lock you in there. This punishment is known as "Solitary Confinement"."

Hayner rolled his eyes.

"How is that a bad punishment?"

Roxas strolled back in his direction.

"I'll tell you how bad it is. They can choose when they let you out. You could be locked in there for a day, weeks, months, even the whole school year if they so wished…"

Lea and Isa were glaring horridly at Roxas now. That did sound very bad… Roxas leaned down so that his face was only a few inches away from Hayner's.

"It's a very clever torturing technique. It messes with you mentally, and if stuck in there for too long with the same people, or alone, you start to lose your mind. It scars you, and cleverly it convinces you never to break a single rule again"

"So we aren't even let out for lessons? Won't they disrupt our learning?"

The little boy had finally decided to speak up. Roxas stood back up straight again, chuckling.

"No, because they give you work to do while you're in there. They won't punish you if you refuse to do the work, but you'll get to the point where you will end up doing it because you want the time to pass quicker"

"That isn't so bad" Pence commented quietly.

Roxas glared at him.

"Oh isn't it? Well, it gets worse from there"

"Ok Roxas, that's enough. No more" Isa intervened.

Roxas ignored him.

"Students have been known to… "vanish" after breaking the rules after a certain number of times"

Everyone's eyes widened at this. Lea face palmed, not saying anything. The little boy became slightly scared and moved his things over to the seat opposite Namine. He wanted to be as far away from Roxas as possible it seemed. He quickly opened up his purple book again and began to read it to distract himself. Roxas smirked.

"Yeah, that's what I thought"

He turned around and strolled back over to his seat casually. Pence turned to Lea and Isa.

"Is what Roxas just said true?"

Reluctantly, Isa nodded.

"Yeah. That is partly why there are only three of us who have returned back to this school. Some of them managed to get away from there for behaving while the others… just disappeared randomly. No one knows where they go, or if they even come back"

The six of us sitting there glanced around at each other with frightened eyes. That doesn't sound good…

Suddenly the lights flashed off. Everything went dark. The sound of something hitting the floor sounded somewhere near Namine. I heard Hayner shriek somewhere near me. I couldn't see him, or anyone else for that matter. In fact, his shriek almost sounded like a girl's... I heard a pair of footsteps and the sound of the carriage door opening and closing to my right.

"Calm down guys. It's just a power outage" Lea assured. "It happens all the time when we go through the tunnels. The back-up power will turn on soon"

Just as Lea said it, the lights came back on; although it was dim lighting, so we couldn't see much. I could just about see everyone though. I glanced towards the window to find that it was now very dark outside. We must be in the tunnel then… Glancing around however, I noticed there were people missing. I swallowed, slightly concerned.

"Guys, I think there are people missing"

Lea glanced around at everyone and began pointing at them with his index finger, muttering names under his breath.

"Let's see… Olette, Pence, no Ienzo, Namine, Sora, Hayner, no Roxas, and Isa…"

He sighed heavily.

"Ienzo and Roxas are the ones missing"

"I think we should go let the conductor know" Isa suggested. "It's best if we leave this up to an adult. And if I'm right, Roxas might be up to his usual havoc"

Lea nodded.

"Right. Just stay here guys. If Roxas and Ienzo come back, tell them I'm gonna kick their backsides for running off like that. Get that memorized"

He and Isa strolled off into the next carriage to the left. I couldn't tell how many carriages there were on this train. I think there was about six, and we were in the third one. Hayner sat back in his seat with his arms folded, huffing.

"I bet Roxas is trying to pull a prank and dragged that poor kid into it. What was his name again?"

"Ienzo, Hayner" Olette answered, sighing. "And Roxas wouldn't go that far. I know he's not well behaved, but he wouldn't put a kid's life at risk for a joke"

"Olette makes a good point" Pence agreed. "He wouldn't go that far Hayner. I think you judge him too hard. Perhaps Ienzo ran off when the lights went out and Roxas might have gone to bring him back"

Hayner sighed.

"Well I can't help it. He just seems like a guy we shouldn't go near, that's all"

The curiosity was starting to eat away at me. I was a bit worried for poor Ienzo. After all, he was only a young kid. Something could have happened to him. Come to think of it, Ienzo didn't run out of here. The footsteps sounded heavier. So it had to be Roxas. If Ienzo was with him, I would have heard two pairs of footsteps, but…

I suddenly got up and walked towards the carriage door to my right.

"Sora, what are you doing? Lea told us to wait here" Olette warned.

"I'm just gonna go check the carriages to see where they are. I won't be long. I'll come right back. I just need to ease my concerns"

I quickly opened the carriage door and stepped through into the next carriage before she could protest against my decision, quickly closing it behind me. I slowly walked forward, squinting my eyes to help them adjust to the dim lighting. There didn't appear to be any sign of them here. So they are either in the carriage after this one, or Lea and Isa found them on the way to see the conductor.

I stopped walking halfway through the carriage then. What if there was someone else on the train who had kidnapped Ienzo? How would I be able to help? All I've done is run headlong into something without thinking through all the possibilities first. I need to stop doing that. Maybe I should head back…

I suddenly heard the carriage door open behind me. I swirled around immediately, clenching my hands into fists in front of my chest and getting into a fighting stance. When I realised it was only Namine, I let out a breath of relief and stood normally again.

"Namine, why are you here?"

Namine shyly looked down at the floor.

"Well, I thought you'd probably be in more danger if you went alone, so I decided to follow you, just to make sure you're alright"

I smiled a little.

"So you suspect that something is up too?"

She nodded.

"Yes. I never heard Ienzo move from his seat the entire time the lights were off. I heard no noise from him either. And when the lights came back on, I saw his book had been knocked underneath the seat, with some of the pages slightly torn. I had heard something drop to the floor while it was dark, so it must have been his book. Something attacked him while the power was down. Otherwise the pages wouldn't have been ripped. There was a struggle"

I was impressed with how observant she'd been. I would never think to check the area like that in any situation. I need to remember that in case something like this should happen again…

Suddenly I felt the carriage jolt. It came unexpectedly. Namine and I gasped in surprise, with me almost toppling over. A familiar cry sounded from the fifth carriage. Namine glanced at me concerned.

"Did you hear that? That sounded like Roxas"

The door to the fifth carriage was pushed open roughly. Namine and I quickly glanced towards the door. My eyes widened when I saw little Ienzo dashing through it towards us. The poor boy looked terrified. He was struggling to run, as I could see he was trembling horridly all over. I quickly moved forward and caught him under his arms as he fell forward, gently lifting him back up onto his feet. I placed my hands on his shoulders as Ienzo continued to tremble.

"Are you alright Ienzo? What happened?"

Ienzo nodded to answer my first question before pointing back towards the carriage.

"A-A shadow grabbed me when the lights went out and dragged me into the carriage. R-Roxas came and tried to help me, b-but he's hurt. H-He told me to run and not mention this to anyone, but…"

The poor boy looked close to tears. I gently pulled him into a hug. I heard Namine slowly walk towards us, standing beside me and rubbing Ienzo's back in an attempt to help comfort him. Ienzo didn't object to my hug, and wrapped his arms tightly around my neck.

"It's going to be ok Ienzo. Head back to the third carriage and explain what has happened to the others, but say someone took you. Don't say anything about the shadows. We'll go and help Roxas, ok?"

I felt Ienzo's small nod as he gently pulled away from me. I stood up and moved to the side, watching as he quickly dashed back towards the third carriage. I turned to Namine.

"We'd better hurry and help Roxas"

The two of us quickly dashed into the fifth carriage as fast as we could.

"By the way, do you know Lea and Isa? Because he seemed to know who you were"

Namine nodded.

"Yes. I'm not friends with them exactly, but I do see them around Radiant Garden sometimes. I also see Ienzo walking around with his guardian Even"

Even? Was that the man who dropped him off at the train station? Just as I opened the door into the fifth carriage, I saw a glimpse of white go through into the final carriage with a black shadow following along the floor. I froze.

"W-What was that?!"

Namine remained silent, staring intently towards the spot the shadow had just been.

"Never mind about that. We need to concentrate on helping Roxas"

I nodded in agreement. As we dashed down the carriage isle another violent jolt shook the carriage. I fell forward onto my face and lay there until the shaking finally ceased. This is weird. Is something attacking the train?

I shook my head from side to side and slowly got to my feet. I glanced back to find Namine had fallen onto one of the seats. She appeared to be unscathed though, especially since she appeared to stand up ok.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. We need to hurry"

The two of us continued to run again, finally managing to reach the carriage door. I quickly yanked it open and dashed inside with Namine close behind. I saw Roxas slowly trying to stand up, using one of the seats to push himself up onto his feet again. His eyes widened when he saw us entering the carriage.

"What are you two doing down here?!"

"Ienzo said you were hurt, so we came to help you" I answered calmly. "Come on. We'll help you back to the third carriage"

Roxas frowned at my response.

"You idiot! It's dangerous here! I can't come back until they stop coming! Head back up to the carriage yourselves! I can handle this!"

"You wouldn't be hurt if you were handling it Roxas!"

Roxas growled angrily at my response. Namine stepped forward a little.

"Roxas, I know what you're trying to fight off. You need to get away from here. You're going to end up dead if you don't"

Roxas' eyes widened at Namine; however his gaze soon turned to me as his gaze fell upon something behind me.

"Sora, look out!"

I swirled around in fright to see a shadow lunging towards me. I cried out and closed my eyes tightly, using my arms to shield my face. I heard the sound of the shadow's screech, and a gasp coming from Roxas. I slowly opened my eyes to find an oversized key in my hand with a yellow handle, instead of the shadow in my face. My eyes widened as I examined the key by twisting it around in front of me curiously. W-What in Kingdom Hearts name is this?!

"Y-You're one of them…?" Roxas questioned, shocked.

I glanced back to find both Roxas and Namine staring at me surprised.

"I'm one of what?"

I had no idea what they were talking about. Does Roxas know what this weapon is? Suddenly more of the shadows began to gather around us. The three of us had been forced back to back as they slinked slyly along the floor. I glanced at Roxas to see him summon the same key I was holding. I blinked in surprise. How did he do that?

"Ask questions later. Right now, we need to get rid of the Heartless"

"Heartless"? Is that what these things are? Without warning, Roxas ran forward and began slashing at them in small groups viciously. I decided to copy the same action as him, and managed to swipe away quite a few of the "Heartless". Namine didn't appear to have a weapon, so she had to be careful of her surroundings.

After finally chasing most of them away, and defeating the majority, the carriage rocked violently, causing us all to lose balance. And that was when a loud clang was heard. Roxas' eyes widened in horror as he quickly glanced towards the carriage door. He dashed over to it once the carriage had finally stopped shaking, and yanked open the door roughly. My eyes widened as I saw the carriage had been unhooked from the fifth one, and that the train was still moving without us. This carriage was slowing down a little; however it was still moving.

Another violent jolt rocked the carriage again as it toppled over onto its left side without warning. The three of us fell backwards with it and landed with a nasty thud on the seats. I landed on my back. The windows on the left side of the train smashed and glass scattered everywhere. I quickly covered my face with my arms to make sure I wasn't cut by it. The lights in the carriage had gone off. It was dark and cold, and all I could hear was the sound of heavy breathing from Namine, Roxas, and myself. The key I had been holding originally vanished from my hand in a flash of light. It appeared that whatever had been shaking the train had finally gone.

What had happened…?

* * *

**Oooooooooooooooooh. Wonder what's gonna happen now... You'll have to find out next time! :P**


	4. Chapter 4: Whispers in the Dark

**I'm so sorry for not updating this sooner! Honestly! I have had a lot of stress due to 6th Form homework, and having to update other stories! But at last I finally got this chapter done! This took me some time because I had so many different ideas I wanted to incorporate into it. But I finally did it. **

**Just so you know, if some of you have already noticed I have changed the summary for this story; however, the old summary still applies to this story. I've just come up with a new idea which is more based around the plot of the story. I realised that with the way I was currently writing this, I wouldn't get this story to finish over at least ten chapters. That is my current aim, which is why I changed the topic of this story a little. Other than that, everything else is still going to be written the same.**

**P.S. The last names I have used in the story were picked by a random name generator, so if they sound weird I'm sorry. Some of them however I already knew what to put for them. Others I didn't know. **

**P.S.S. Here's the new summary for those who haven't read it yet:**

A food fight sends Sora and Vanitas Kingdom to a strict boarding school to correct their behaviour. Here, Sora begins to have strange dreams concerning an old Legend on the grounds the school is placed upon, along with other worlds that were once connected to it. Can Sora and his new friends prepare for what's to come? And will Sora embrace his true destiny?

**P.S.S.S. I hope you enjoy the next chapter! XD**

* * *

Chapter 4: Whispers in the Dark

I had lost track of how long we had been lying here in the cold quietly for. But I was sure of one thing. Whatever had been shaking the train had appeared to have vanished. That I was glad about at least. I knew we were safe for now, and that was all that really mattered. I was still able to move, since I hadn't cut myself on any of the windows luckily. The train carriage had been turned over onto its left side, so all the windows along that side had shattered as soon as they hit the floor. There was glass everywhere, so we had to be very careful when we decided that we were gonna move.

Finally, after another round of silence, I heard Roxas grunt nearby. I heard the sound of glass being kicked aside roughly as he came over to me, carefully lifting me up by my shoulders so that I was sat up on my knees.

"You ok Sora?"

I nodded slowly, looking around at the darkened carriage before my eyes landed on his face. Roxas had received a few bruises to the left side of his head, and a small cut on his left arm. I was surprised he hadn't been injured any worse than that. I saw Namine nearby sprawled out on the ground. She had quite a few bruises going up both her arms. Luckily those seemed to be the only injuries she'd received. Again I was surprised. I probably had a lot of bruises as well, but I couldn't be bothered to check.

Roxas then carefully shuffled his way over to Namine, repeating the same thing with her.

"And are you ok, Namine?"

She nodded slowly, staying oddly silent. Roxas sighed in relief.

"Good"

I watched as he slowly crawled towards the exit of the carriage. A lot of questions were currently occupying my mind.

"Who are the Heartless?"

Roxas paused by the damaged door as he tried to kick it open.

"Leave the questions until later. Right now, we need to focus on getting away from here before they come back"

Just as I was about to follow him, a loud thud sounded from nearby. The three of us froze out of fear. Roxas' gaze darted around the carriage as another loud thud sounded from nearby. He indicated for us to stay where we were, and keep silent. The thudding continued to get louder and closer. The carriage jumped a little way off the ground on every thud. I could feel my heart thudding against my rib cage as the thudding suddenly stopped in front of the left side of the carriage. Unfortunately for me, that was the side I was on…

We were then met with a long and dreaded silence. I could feel my hands beginning to tremble at my sides horridly. All I wanted to do was to get out of this carriage as fast as possible. I knew I couldn't though. Whatever was out there might still be lurking. That would be the worst decision for me to make.

After the silence dragged on for quite some time, Roxas looked ready to conclude that whatever was there had probably passed us. However, just as he was about to, the carriage was suddenly tilted forwards. I found myself rolling down on my side towards the exit along with Roxas, who had fallen backwards out the door first, and Namine who was just behind me. All three of us let out a cry of shock and surprise as we ended up fast first on the cold ground outside. Luckily it wasn't a long fall.

I lifted up my head to find the shadow of the carriage currently concealing us from view was slowly being lifted up. I swallowed back my fear and dared myself to turn around onto my back. I regretted my decision immediately. My terrified eyes were now locked upon the giant creature currently holding the carriage up with one hand, and carelessly tossing it to one side a good way away from the train tracks. I heard a gasp from Namine on my left, and even Roxas muttered an "Oh Kingdom Hearts" from my right as I sat there, frozen with fear at the giant shrouded in darkness. Its glowing yellow eyes fell upon the three of us on the ground. _This_ is what must have been attacking the train earlier.

The air around us was cold, and the sky had suddenly gone dark. Was it night already? Whoa! Wrong time to be thinking about this Sora! I gulped loudly and slowly turned my head towards Roxas.

"What should we do?"

I whispered it so I didn't draw any unwanted attention from this giant thing currently staring at us. Roxas turned his head to me slightly.

"Just sit still. The minute the Darkside Heartless makes its first movement, be prepared to get to your feet and run"

"Darkside Heartless? That thing is a Heartless?!"

"Yes. It's nothing like an ordinary Heartless however. It is a lot stronger. Be on your guard"

I really wish I had stayed in the carriage with the others now… As I stared up at this giant creature before me, I could feel the terror slowly circulating around my body. I felt like I was in a child's nightmare and that I was going to wake up soon. I was dreaming. This isn't real. It can't be real. It just can't be.

Without warning, the Heartless suddenly took a large and slow step forward. At this, Roxas quickly leapt to his feet and started to run.

"Come on!"

Namine and I clumsily copied him as the Heartless began to walk forwards, increasing the speed in its walking. The two of us managed to keep up with Roxas as it gave chase to us.

"C-Can't we… just fight- fight it off with those key weapons…?"

Roxas quickly shook his head.

"Not yet. You're not ready"

(I'm not ready? What? What is he talking about?)

"Not ready for what?"

"You're not ready to use the Keyblade to fight that thing!"

(Keyblade? Is that what that weapon was?)

Roxas immediately came to a halt, causing Namine and I to fall into his back, pushing him over onto the ground. I glanced up to see the train slowly reversing its way back. Relief suddenly washed over me. They've realised we're not on the train! Yes!

The three of us quickly got to our feet as a loud thud sounded right behind us, causing me to stumble a little. I slowly turned around and stared up into the Heartless' glowing yellow eyes. I was frozen. My body wouldn't move. Its piercing yellow gaze had struck me with terror. Oh, why now?!

"Get back!"

I suddenly felt myself get yanked back roughly as the same man in a black cloak with the hood up dashed forward, summoning a large pink scythe into his hand. Whoa! How did he do that?!

Once I was yanked a good distance away and back near the fifth carriage of the train, I turned around to see the person who had grabbed me was also wearing a black cloak with the hood up. I could just make out light brown hair underneath it though.

"Are you alright there?"

I slowly nodded as I was carefully guided back onto the train. Roxas and Namine appeared to have been brought back on by two other hooded figures. Well ok, only one of them was wearing the hood. The one without the hood had light blonde hair and green eyes, and appeared to be lecturing Roxas.

"-It's bad enough that you always get yourself into trouble, but now you're bringing new students into this mess? Honestly boy, what are we supposed to do with you?! I'm surprised you even survived your first year at this school-"

"That's enough Vexen" The man currently stood behind me interrupted. "This was through no fault of his. No one expected this to happen"

The man, now dubbed as Vexen, huffed in annoyance.

"But doesn't it seem suspicious to you Lexaeus that every time trouble occurs within this school or on the train, Mr Destiny here is somehow involved?!"

Roxas rolled his eyes, looking really uninterested with the current topic. The man behind Namine shook his head.

"Just give it a rest Vexen. You're just paranoid"

"I am not paranoid Luxord! That boy is causing some kind of problem! I know he is!"

Lexaeus, the man stood behind me, sighed heavily.

"Just allow them to return back to the carriage with the others instead of cross-examining them Vexen. They're shaken up enough as it is"

Huffing out of annoyance, Vexen stepped aside. The last thing I heard was Vexen inquiring about our injuries, and Luxord mentioning something about how they weren't serious and that we'd be fine before we left. The three of us silently walked into the fourth carriage, where Roxas stopped both me and Namine in our tracks with his arm. His eyes were deadly, and almost caused me to stumble back. Namine on the other hand didn't appear fazed by this at all.

"Do not mention a word of this incident to anyone. Understand?"

We both nodded silently in agreement.

"But what were those-"

"You'll find out in due time, _rival_"

"Huh? Why are you-?"

Before I even had time to finish my sentence, Roxas had already begun to walk away into the third carriage; however, as he passed Namine I saw him whisper something quietly in her ear before exiting. I stood there dumfounded. Namine slowly turned around to face me, giggling a little. I think she was laughing at the current expression that I had on my face.

"Don't worry yourself over it Sora. As Roxas said, you'll understand in time"

I sighed heavily, nodding in agreement.

"But what did he mean when he called me "rival"?"

Namine shrugged.

"I wish I knew. Roxas is a mysterious individual, but I have a feeling this won't be the last time we cross paths with him…"

I was going to question what Namine meant by that, but decided against it. I'll probably just be told the same thing over and over again. Namine seemed like a person I could trust. But Roxas? I can't understand his intentions, but it seems he's not as misbehaved as he's made himself out to be… At least I know he's not the one who kidnapped Ienzo. But what are these Heartless? And what are they after? And what is the Keyblade? Why do I have it?

I slowly followed behind Namine as the two of us re-entered the carriage. Straight away, Ienzo leapt off his seat and ran towards me, hugging me tightly around the waist. I chuckled, ruffling his hair a little. He was probably worried something had happened to us after he sent us to Roxas' aid.

"Don't worry Ienzo. We're fine"

Roxas had gone back to sitting in his little corner of the train. Everyone else was looking at us with concern as Namine and I sat back down in our seats again.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Hayner pressed, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I could see that his eyes were fixed on my face. I must have bruises there.

"Yeah, I mean we heard the carriage unhook from the train!" Pence added with his eyes filled with worry. "We thought the intruder had attempted to kidnap you"

I quickly shook my head.

"Oh no! It wasn't an attempted kidnapping! The intruder unhooked the carriage and then ran off. They didn't want anything to do with us at all. Then it toppled over. That's why I'm covered in bruises"

This had relaxed the others a little; however, Lea gave us a disapproving look.

"I told you not to leave the carriage. You should have just left it to the conductor. We might not have realised you were missing, and you three would still be stranded out there"

I looked away sheepishly, noticing that Namine had gone back to drawing in her sketchbook as if nothing had happened. She really must be shy if she won't engage in conversations with everyone else… But didn't the recent events affect her in anyway at all? Lea turned to Roxas then.

"You hear that Roxas? That's what your little prank would have caused if you endangered these two! Got that memorized?"

Roxas rolled his eyes, and after giving me one quick glare, turned away to stare out the window. Isa then tried to change the topic, and began talking about how far away we were from the school. I felt very tired after that experience, and the Darkside Heartless forever remained in my head. Its piercing eyes seemed so familiar- Wait, what? Did I just say "familiar"? Was it familiar?

There were so many questions I wanted the answers to, but no one would give me them. I think I need to rest. My head is really confused right now, and overthinking isn't going to help me at all. I decided to take Namine's advice then, and slept for the rest of the journey to try to forget about it. At least, I thought I'd slept for the rest of the journey.

* * *

"Guys! Is that it?!"

I was awoken by Hayner, who had cried out in the seat beside me. I groggily looked around as everyone except Namine, Lea, Isa and Roxas kneeled or stood around Hayner's seat to stare out the window intently. Even Namine had been startled by Hayner's sudden reaction, as I noticed she'd jumped a little while focusing on her sketch. How long have I been asleep?

I was curious now as to what they were shouting about, and so I turned around on my seat so I could look out the window. Namine copied me as we all stared out towards a neon lit town with black buildings. Lightning lit up the sky and illuminated the large skyscraper of a building right at the other end, along with a large glowing heart shaped moon behind it. My eyes widened at the scene in front of us in awe. This was the main school building up close?

Lea came up behind us with his hands behind his head.

"Welcome to The World That Never Was"

Pence turned his head around so he could see Lea clearly, frowning a little in confusion.

"The World That Never Was?"

"Yep. As the name states, this place was never supposed to exist. Yet somehow it does. No one knows how or why, but the buildings were only built just last year, or should I say modified. As for the area itself, it has been here for many eons"

"This place actually looks creepier up close…" Olette muttered as rain started to harshly lash against the windows.

"Are you scared Olette?" Hayner teased.

Olette turned her head slightly towards him to glare at him.

"Quit it Hayner!"

Olette hadn't been kidding though. I agreed with her. This place looked more ominous up close than it had done on that leaflet. Looks like Kairi's and Ven's assumptions were wrong after all. And the lightning occasionally striking the area wasn't helping ease our nerves either. The rain made this journey all the more depressing. I wish I was back on Destiny Islands right now…

The train came to a sharp halt in the station as we all scrambled around to grab our belongings. It was still heavily pouring down with rain, so Lea kindly asked the conductor if we could borrow some raincoats. Seems childish I know, but we needed something to keep us dry, right? Instead of raincoats however, we received these white waterproof cloaks, similar to that of what the adults on the train were wearing but a different colour. They had quite a few zippers on them and a large hood, which concealed our faces. Apparently they were ours to keep for the rest of the school year. Mine was a bit big, but it didn't bother me that much. As long as it keeps me dry, then I'm content.

We were made to exit the train two at a time, so we had to get into pairs. It felt like I was back in Primary School… Starting from the front, excluding Ienzo since he had been placed in the care of Vexen, Lea and Isa went first, followed by Olette and Pence, then me and Namine, and then finally Roxas and Hayner trailed behind. The two of them wouldn't even look at each other as we approached a man with bright blue hair sticking out from under the hood of his cloak, along with bright, piercing yellow eyes.

The other people who had been with us on the train, which were Vexen, Lexaeus, Luxord and the guy who had the scythe (Who I heard from Luxord talking to Vexen that his name was Marluxia), stood either at the front, back or sides of the line we were in. I almost felt like we were prisoners being escorted to jail…

The man with blue hair stared at us seriously as he surveyed the students currently standing in front of him.

"Welcome to The World That Never Was. I am Saix, Deputy Head of Xemnas' Boarding School for Misbehaved Youths. I shall be your guide throughout the remainder of the first week of your stay here. Now, if you would all kindly follow me, I shall show you to the main school building. Please stay in line and do not think about wandering off, as tempting as it may be. This is not the ideal place for you to get lost in"

And with that, Saix turned on his heels and started walking away from the station, with the rest of us following along behind him in silence. I became fully aware by the time we had entered the main town that something about this place was really off. The only sound that I could hear was the pounding of the rain against the ground and buildings. Despite the area being full of lights, it seemed almost abandoned. It was too silent.

"Does anyone even live here?" I heard Olette whisper to Pence, who merely shrugged in response.

"No one does oddly enough" Isa replied, keeping his voice low. "Apparently the houses around here were modified from the actual ruins they are supposed to be"

"Ruins? You mean this was a historical site at one point from ancient times?" Pence questioned, excitement filling his tone.

"Apparently so, yes. Hopefully you'll learn more about it when you get round to studying history"

I rolled my eyes at that. I hated history with a passion. There was nothing that I had learnt about in that subject that interested me at all. But if we do get taught about this place in history, my interest might just be piqued.

* * *

After a long walk, the large building and heart shape moon finally loomed over our heads as we approached. Hayner, Namine, Ienzo, Pence, Olette and I stared at the giant skyscraper like building in awe.

"This is where we're supposed to be taking our lessons?" Hayner questioned, incredulously. "It looks more like a modern version of a prison tower!"

"You're lucky the dorms aren't within this building then…" Roxas muttered, causing Hayner to give him a nasty glare.

Saix slowly led us inside. We looked around to find we had entered into a lounge area. The inside was coloured a bright white, contrasting with the black colour of the building on the outside. Even the sofas were white! They must like bright and dark colours contrasting a lot here…

Saix took us up a small staircase and told us to wait silently outside the doors until he said otherwise. Ienzo was made to stand at the back on his own just as Marluxia, Vexen, Luxord and Lexaeus were about to leave; however, they halted at the sound of footsteps approaching. We all turned our heads to see a guy with red spiky hair and bright green eyes wearing one of the black cloaks, walking towards us with a short raven haired girl with bright blue eyes in front of him. She wasn't wearing the white cloak like the rest of us were which we had started to take off since we were now inside. The clothes she was currently wearing were a black, plain, short sleeved t-shirt with a white and black checkered skirt, plain black tights, and flat black shoes. She was staring down at the floor silently as the two of them approached the line.

"She missed the train from Radiant Garden" The man explained, turning his gaze to Saix as he said this.

"So that's why you stayed behind? It's a wonder you got here on your own Axel" Marluxia commented, smirking a little.

Axel folded his arms.

"In all honesty, it wasn't this child's fault. The school had made last minute decisions"

He handed a piece of paper to Saix.

"Make sure that gets to Xemnas, will ya?"

Saix narrowed his eyes towards Axel as he started to walk away, along with Marluxia, Luxord, Lexaeus and Vexen. Saix sighed heavily and turned to the new arrival.

"Please stand in the line with everyone else until you're summoned inside"

The girl silently nodded, and stood beside Ienzo at the back of the line. I noticed the entire time that Namine appeared really uneasy about all of this. I watched from the corner of my eye as Namine's and the girl's gazes crossed for a brief moment. Namine's expression was a look of pure terror, while the girl's was just a neutral expression; however, I could see a faint glint of anger within those eyes of hers. Namine then turned away, staring at the doors in front of us. I stayed silent, deciding not to question her on the matter. It was none of my business anyway, and I respected people's privacy. I have a feeling those two know each other though.

Suddenly the doors in front of us opened, making a few of us jump in surprise. Saix indicated for us to enter, and two by two we entered into the bright white room. I placed my white cloak over my arm as we entered, as did a lot of others too. The newcomers stared around in awe at the high white chairs littered around us in a circle. On each chair there were about eleven people seated before us, but the man on the highest chair was who caught my attention the most. Just like Headmaster Ansem, he had grey hair and bright piercing yellow eyes. All of the adults within the room were wearing the same black cloak. I noticed however that there were thirteen chairs. Two were currently empty, but I knew one of them must be for Saix. Who does the thirteenth one belong to I wonder…?

Starting from Lea, we all stood in a straight line in the middle of the room as instructed to by Saix, before he suddenly vanished through what looked like a portal of darkness into his chair beside the grey haired person. Hayner had almost stumbled back in fright at Saix's sudden appearance into the chair, causing some of the adults sat around us to snicker at him. You do not know how intimidated I felt at having to stand in front of these twelve strangers and having no idea what's about to happen.

From the left, the order of the line went like this: Lea, Isa, Pence, Olette, Namine, Me, Hayner, Roxas, the new girl, and Ienzo on the end. Saix slowly stood up in his seat, pulling out a list from his cloak pocket.

"When I call out your name, please respond with "here" or "present" so that I may mark you here"

He cleared his throat before continuing.

"Pence Burke"

"Here…"

Pence had responded quietly.

"Isa Crescent"

"Here"

"Roxas Destiny"

Roxas gave a grunt in response, causing Saix to raise his eyebrow.

"Roxas Destiny"

"Here…"

Roxas grumbled it. Saix chose to ignore this and move along.

"Lea Hikari"

"Present!"

Saix rolled his eyes at Lea's enthusiasm.

"Hayner Hiker"

"Here"

"Ienzo Hime"

"Here"

"Sora Kingdom"

"Here"

"Vanitas Kingdom"

I cringed slightly when they reached my twin's name. Saix was met with silence.

"Vanitas Kingdom"

Still there was silence, despite him saying his name louder this time. I swallowed quietly, praying to Kingdom Hearts that they didn't question me on his whereabouts. I'm a terrible liar.

"Vanitas Kingdom?"

There was silence yet again. Saix shook his head, grumbling something under his breath before moving on.

"Xion Lohart"

"Here"

The girl who had recently joined us answered. I glanced towards her at the end of the line curiously. She doesn't seem like the type of person to sound so bold.

"Namine White"

"Here…"

"And Olette Whitham"

"Present"

Saix then rolled the list up and sat back down without saying another word. The grey haired man silently stood up then, placing his hands behind his back as he stared down at us from his chair.

"I am Headmaster Xemnas. I would like to welcome you all to Xemnas' Boarding School for Misbehaved Youths, emphasis on _would_. This is not the ideal place for students to be, so unless you were here for a good reason, then I would welcome you. Sadly, you all are not. As you all should be aware, you have been sent here due to your local schools no longer being able to tolerate with your criminal/disruptive behaviour, and so have given you the opportunity to correct it before any serious harm is done to yourselves or those around you-"

His glare was just as bad as Headmaster Ansem's. I couldn't look up at him, so I resulted to keeping my gaze to the floor, as did quite a few others I noticed.

"-For the next year, you shall all undergo our strict teaching methods as you're taught your regular lessons in order to straighten out your behaviour. There will be certain rules in which you must abide by if you want to survive this harsh school year, because I assure you, this won't be a simple walk in the park. Unlike the previous schools you have been to, our punishments are a lot more severe than you would like to think-"

I heard Hayner gulp loudly beside me. I don't blame him to be honest. This is all sounding very frightening. I watched as the Headmaster took out a couple of pieces of paper from his pocket.

"The rules go as follows: All students must be wearing the correct uniform when attending lessons between 9am and 3pm. If anyone turns up to lessons in their own clothes, you will be put in isolation for the rest of the school day. All students will be required to come to lessons on time with the correct equipment and homework. If you come late, forget your equipment, or forget your homework, you will receive a one hour detention. When is up to us to decide. If anyone should be disruptive during lessons, or refuse to do the work that has been set, you shall be placed in solitary confinement. As for the dormitories, we expect all students to be in bed with the lights off after 11pm. If anyone is caught outside their dorm after 11pm and before 6am, you will be put in solitary confinement-"

I gazed around at the others to see their reactions. Little Ienzo was trembling, Xion merely rolled her eyes, Roxas looked uninterested, Hayner had gone quite pale, Namine kept her gaze to the floor, Olette's and Pence's eyes were wide, and Lea and Isa just glanced at each other silently. As for me, I felt quite sick. This was worse than the punishments I got back at my old school. They may not be life threatening, but they sure were strict!

The Headmaster slowly placed the list back in his pocket again before addressing us.

"You all will receive your lesson timetables from Saix in the morning. For now however, you shall be shown to your dorms. I hope you all have a pleasant night's rest here… That is all. You are dismissed"

I was relieved now that was over! I didn't know how much longer I was going to last in here! That has to be the shortest introduction I have ever been to.

Saix suddenly appeared through a dark portal in front of us again, opening up another one and beckoning us to follow him. As we walked through with our things I heard Roxas scoff.

"I honestly hate those dark corridors that they use. They get really annoying after a while"

"Is that what they are?" Hayner questioned.

Roxas nodded.

"Yeah. I have no idea how they do it though. It would be so much easier if we could learn to do the same"

We soon found ourselves surrounded by bright white walls and flooring. I stared around at the area in awe, mesmerised at how bright and clean it looked. I remembered the leaflet mentioning about a place like this. What was it called again? Castle Oblivion, right? At least it wasn't lying about this place.

* * *

Saix led us all up quite a few stairs until we reached what I think is the top floor. He turned to us as he stood silently on the top of the stairs, with the rest of us in a straight line going down them.

"Welcome to Castle Oblivion. We are currently on the 13th floor, which you'll be glad to hear is the final floor within this place. This is where you all shall be sleeping while you stay with us. Each room has been given a number. One by one I shall tell you the number of the dorm you have been given. It is a mixed sleeping arrangement, so both males and females will end up sharing the same room-"

I raised my eyebrow at this, but then I thought about how many of us there actually were. Since we were a small group of people, they probably want to keep a closer eye on us and don't want us all spread out.

"Once I give you this slip of paper with your number on it, you may look for your dorm. All of the rooms have the numbers outside the doors, so there is no need for you to worry about not finding it. I will be down to check on you all momentarily, just to make sure you have found the right room"

One by one we were each given a slip of paper and sent on our way down the corridor. I quickly took mine and moved out the way of the line, glancing down at it silently.

(21. Wow. I wonder how many rooms there actually are…)

I shrugged at the thought and started walking down the right corridor, noticing the odd numbers started this way. I wasn't the only one down this corridor. Pence and Olette had also come down this way. Upon seeing me, Olette gave me a happy smile as I approached them.

"What number did you get Sora?"

"21"

"Aw, you're not in the same room as us!" Pence sighed. "Olette and I got 17. I guess we got lucky, right?"

Hayner suddenly placed a hand on my shoulder from behind, startling me a little.

"Hey guys! Have you all got the same number?"

I shook my head.

"No. I have a different one to them"

"What did you get?"

"21"

"Oooooh. Mine's 17"

"Hey, ours is too!" Olette laughed. "I guess it really is luck that we all ended up in the same room together!"

Patting my back out of sympathy, Hayner began walking away with Olette and Pence.

"Sorry Sora. But good luck in finding your dorm!"

I nodded a "thanks" as I continued on my way down the corridor silently. I could feel the butterflies gathering in my stomach. Who was I going to end up with? I was hoping it was someone who I was going to get along with.

The corridor felt longer than it actually was, and before I knew it, I was outside room 21. I looked around to find I was the only one standing here. Did I end up on my own?

"I see you got number 21 too Sora"

I slowly lifted up my head to find Namine walking towards me, holding on tightly to her slip of paper in her hand, while carrying her things. I felt relief wash over me then. I was glad to know it was someone who I was comfortable around. She also seemed relieved too. I gave her a small smile in response.

"Oh the irony. Looks like us three are dorm mates for the rest of the year"

Namine and I glanced towards Roxas who was coming in our direction. Roxas is in the same dorm too? Oh no…

He slowly approached me, gently placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Well, so long as you stick to your side of the room, then I'll stick to mine. Got that rival?"

I frowned at him slightly.

"Why do you keep calling me rival?"

Roxas smirked at me.

"Haven't you caught on yet Sora? You and I are rivals now. You gotta make sure you keep up with me if you don't want to get left behind"

At least that's one question of mine he's decided to answer. He ruffled my hair a little before slowly opening the door and entering the room. I turned to Namine out of confusion, who merely shrugged at me as she slowly followed Roxas inside. As if I thought today couldn't get any worse. Now I have a rival I didn't even ask for, and we're both in the same dorm. Oh Kingdom Hearts…

* * *

**Thank you to those who have reviewed, favourited and followed this fanfiction. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.**


End file.
